John Altham was reluctant to say how much they had spent on the new packhouse but admitted the machinery for the largely automated system cost $10 million.
"It is a vote of confidence in the fruit industry."
Much of the equipment has come from Dutch firm Greefa who sent a team of engineers to install it and get it running smoothly before the packhouse hits top production.
Tim Altham looked at many systems around the world before choosing Greefa, a family firm, for their packhouse.
The line is expected to be able to handle 13 tonnes an hour.
The Althams expect that 70 per cent of their 1.2 million cartons a year throughput at both the Hastings and Hamilton sites will be their own production.
They export 75 per cent of their production, mostly to European and British supermarkets. They also supply the Progressive Enterprises supermarket chain in New Zealand.
"It's always a negotiation" but they are better to deal with, John Altham said.
The system they have chosen to grade and pack their fruit is different from the usual way it's done in New Zealand.
Instead of the fruit coming in to the packhouse to be automatically graded and sized and then out straight into cartons to go into storage until it's sold, the new packhouse will grade and size the fruit as usual and then put it back into wooden bins. It's not put into cartons until it's ready to leave the packhouse for sale.
Tim Altham said that was the way fruit was packed in Europe.
The Hawke's Bay Fruitgrowers' Association has welcomed the fact that the new packhouse is built on gravel land not good for fruit production. Tim Altham said the gravel base made for good drainage and a firm foundation.
The packhouse filters all the water used because it is on town supply and needs to remove the chlorine.
Water is used to transport fruit without damage and to wash the wooden bins clean after use.
"We are all ready for work now, a year after this project began."
